George Zimmerman Trial Updates: Follow Here For LIVE Coverage

The George Zimmerman trial isn't over yet, but there's already widespread consensus that Trayvon Martin's killer is going to go free. Justin Peters has a fascinating post over at Slate on why that's a good thing. For more coverage of the trial, check out PolicyMic's LIVE BLOG.

Trending In Our News Feeds – Senate fails to lower student loan rates. Senate Democrats failed to push through a bill on Wednesday that would have returned interest rates on Stafford student loans to 3.4%. Interest rates doubled on July 1 to 6.8% after a two-year extension on lower rates expired. The Senate bill fell nine votes short of the 60 it needed; Senators Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Angus King (I-Maine) voted with Republicans when Senate leadership refused to give their compromise bill a vote.

The New York Timesreports Democrats and Republicans are scrambling to make a last minute deal before seven million students take out Stafford loans in August. We’re not too optimistic, given Congress’ track record on compromising. The Washington Post is asking millennials to share their student loan stories. You can tell you story here.

Reports provide insights into Egypt chaos. Major media outlets published stories on Wednesday that provide fascinating insight into the lead-up to the overthrow of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. Al Jazeera reports the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley uncovered documents showing the Obama Administration funded opposition leaders who helped oust Morsi, including an anti-Islamist politician who called for the forceful closing of Egyptian mosques.

The New York Times reveals public sector workers in Egypt didn’t do their jobs while Morsi was in power. The sudden end of power shortages in Egypt and the police’s return to the streets lead the Times to conclude workers “played a significant role – intentionally or not – in undermining the overall quality of life under the Islamist administration of Mr. Morsi.”

Meanwhile, Egypt’s state prosecutor has issued a warrant for the arrest of the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie. The government accuses him of causing the violence that killed 50 Egyptians on Monday.

New NSA slide shows second data mining method. The Washington Post got its hands on a new leaked NSA document on Wednesday that shows U.S. intelligence doesn’t just collect data through the PRISM program. The slide says the NSA mines data through “upstream” methods, too. This is the direct collection of data from internet cables. The document also says PRISM collects data directly from the servers of major internet companies, a claim the companies have denied.

Apple loses e-book antitrust case. A federal judge ruled on WednesdayApple illegally plotted with publishers to raise the prices of e-books. “Apple chose to join forces with the publisher defendants to raise e-book prices and equipped them with the means to do so,” Judge Denise Cote said in her opinion. Antitrust lawyer Jerry Reisman says Apple will appeal, but doesn’t think the company will win based on the evidence. He predicts Apple will have to pay “substantial” damages. Wired has a sinister take on the outcome of the case: “Apple’s court loss could end the book as we know it.”